PCORnet® Resources Inform National Response to COVID-19

PCORnet® is intended to improve the nation’s capacity to efficiently conduct patient-centered health research, particularly comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER), by providing a large, highly representative network of health data, research expertise, and patient insights. PCORnet has been developed with funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute® (PCORI®).

Page last updated
April 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic demanded swift answers to many questions:

  • How do we prevent COVID-19?
  • How do we treat it?
  • How can we mitigate serious disease?

PCORnet was key in helping deliver the answers.

At a Glance

Challenge

  • Rapidly evolving virus
  • Fragmented data across health systems
  • The need for answers quickly

Why PCORnet?

  • Existing partnerships with major health systems across the U.S.
  • Broad, representative data from real-world settings
  • PCORnet® Common Data Model for rapid data-to-insight
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CDC USED PCORNET RESOURCES TO EXPAND NATIONAL UNDERSTANDING OF COVID-19

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in partnership with the Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) teamed up to use PCORnet data resources for pandemic-related insights the nation urgently needed.

Using PCORnet, CDC and PHII could:

  • Access de-identified, aggregate data from over 60 health systems nationwide
  • Collect insights from nearly half a million patients across the U.S. with a COVID-19 diagnosis or SARS-CoV-2 test result

Patient-Centered Results

  • Results related to racial and ethnic disparities across COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment published January 2022 in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
  • Results related to the incidence of long COVID published February 2022 in JAMA Network Open
  • Results related to myocarditis and pericarditis risk after COVID-19 infection and vaccination published April 2022 in MMWR
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ACTIV-6 USED PCORNET RESOURCES TO UNDERSTAND POTENTIAL COVID-19 OUTPATIENT THERAPIES

The ACTIV-6 platform trial assessed the effectiveness of repurposed medications to treat mild to moderate COVID-19.

Using PCORnet, the ACTIV-6 team could:

  • Erect ACTIV-6 clinical and data coordinating centers
  • Achieve effective patient and stakeholder engagement
  • Connect to more than 40 sites

Patient-Centered Results

  • Results related to the efficacy of ivermectin among outpatients with COVID-19 published February 2023 in JAMA
  • Results related to the efficacy of fluvoxamine among outpatients with COVID-19 published January 2023 in JAMA

PCORnet is open to collaboration requests from researchers, patient groups, industry, agencies and others.

Are you ready to find out how PCORnet can support your next research effort? Contact the PCORnet® Front Door to start the conversation. 

HERO USED PCORNET RESOURCES TO ASSEMBLE A RESEARCH-READY COMMUNITY OF HEALTHCARE WORKERS

PCORI funded the HERO Research Program to support studies aimed at understanding the experiences of frontline healthcare workers.

Using PCORnet, the HERO team could:

  • Erect a HERO Registry of 55,000+ individuals working in healthcare, which underpinned:
  • HERO-HCQ, a randomized study of hydroxychloroquine’s efficacy against COVID-19
  • HERO-TOGETHER, 20,000 HERO members who report on experiences for two years after COVID-19 vaccination

Patient-Centered Results

  • Results related to racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare worker experiences during the pandemic published March 2022 in The Lancet
  • Results related to the impact of the early phase of the pandemic on U.S. healthcare workers published March 2021 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine
  • Results related to the use of hydroxychloroquine in healthcare workers for pre-exposure prophylaxis published January 2023 in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases
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ONGOING COVID-19 RESEARCH STUDIES ENABLED BY PCORNET

  • Exploring how blood pressure medicines affect patients’ risks for COVID-19. Learn more
  • Assessing the health and financial impact of COVID-19-related policy decisions in seven different states. Learn more

PCORnet® is a national resource, funded by PCORI, where high-quality health data, patient partnership, and research expertise deliver fast, trustworthy answers that advance health outcomes. The network supports both observational and interventional research.